Larian Studios has officially announced that the much-anticipated Patch 8 for Baldur’s Gate 3 will launch on Tuesday, April 15. After being available in stress test form for a while, the update is now ready for all players to enjoy next week.
Patch 8 brings a significant amount of new content to the critically acclaimed Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Players can look forward to 12 new subclasses, enhancing the game's depth and diversity. Additionally, the update introduces a photo mode, cross-play functionality, and split-screen support for Xbox Series S. For a detailed breakdown, check out the Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 patch notes.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 8 new subclasses: ---------------------------------------Bard - College of Glamour
As a member of the College of Glamour, Bards gain the ability to heal allies and manipulate enemies. With Mantle of Inspiration, you can grant your allies 5 temporary hit points, and if an enemy attacks while it's active, they become Charmed. Utilize Mantle of Majesty to command these charmed enemies to flee, move, freeze, drop to the ground, or disarm themselves.
Barbarian - Path of Giants
Choosing the Path of Giants enhances your Barbarian's strength, enabling you to throw both friends and foes with ease. Thanks to the Giant’s Rage passive, you'll gain increased strength and size, boosting your Throw attack damage and carrying capacity.
Cleric - Death Domain
Clerics of the Death Domain master necrotic damage and necromancy. With the cantrip Toll The Dead, you can deal 1-8 damage, scaling if the target is already hurt. Additionally, you can now cause nearby corpses to explode, damaging enemies around them.
Druid - Circle of Stars
Druids in the Circle of Stars harness celestial power through three Starry Forms: the Archer, Chalice, and Dragon. Each form caters to different strategies—dealing radiant damage, healing allies, or enhancing constitution rolls, respectively, adding depth to your gameplay as a healer, fighter, or strategist.
Paladin - Oath of the Crown
Sworn to uphold the law, Paladins of the Oath of the Crown can guide their allies with Righteous Clarity, disrupt enemies with strategic interrupts, and support their party with Divine Allegiance, absorbing damage while restoring health.
Fighter - Arcane Archer
The Arcane Archer combines magic with marksmanship, introducing unique skills and new shooting animations. You can banish foes to the Feywild or inflict Psychic damage that may blind enemies until their next turn.
Monk - Drunken Master
The Drunken Master Monk can consume alcohol from their inventory or around the Sword Coast to recover Ki. Using Intoxicating Strike, you can share a drink with enemies, boosting your Armour Class and hit chance against drunk targets. Drunk enemies are also vulnerable to Sobering Realisation, which deals physical and Psychic damage while sobering them up.
Ranger - Swarmkeeper
Rangers following the Swarmkeeper path can summon three types of deadly swarms: Cloud of Jellyfish for extra lightning damage, Flurry of Moths for Psychic damage and potential blindness, and Legion of Bees for piercing damage and knockback. Each swarm also provides teleportation capabilities.
Rogue - Swashbuckler
Swashbuckler Rogues introduce actions suited for a pirate's life. You can blind enemies with sand, disarm them by flicking your weapon, or use Fancy Footwork to prevent opportunity attacks during melee combat.
Sorcerer - Shadow Magic
Shadow Magic Sorcerers thrive in darkness, gaining Superior Darkvision and the ability to Shadow Walk between dim light or darkness. They can summon a Hound of Ill Omen to harass foes and use Strength of the Grave to avoid being downed, perfect for Honour Mode runs.
Warlock - Hexblade
Hexblade Warlocks form pacts with Shadowfell entities, wielding magical weapons. They can curse enemies and summon spirits from slain foes (excluding certain types) to deal necrotic damage and heal the Warlock.
Wizard - Bladesinging
Bladesinging Wizards blend swordplay with spellcasting, featuring new spellcasting animations and a Bladesong ability that boosts speed, agility, focus, and Constitution saving throws.
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Patch 8 marks the final major update for Baldur’s Gate 3, concluding a remarkable chapter for Larian Studios. The game, which launched to critical acclaim and significant commercial success in 2023, has continued its strong sales into 2024 and 2025.
Larian Studios surprised the gaming community by announcing their departure from Baldur’s Gate 3 and Dungeons & Dragons to focus on a new, yet-to-be-revealed project, maintaining a media blackout to concentrate on development.
Meanwhile, Hasbro, the owner of D&D, has hinted at plans to continue the Baldur's Gate series. Speaking at the Game Developers Conference, SVP of digital games at Hasbro, Dan Ayoub, mentioned that with Larian moving on, "a lot of people [are] very interested in Baldur's Gate." He teased forthcoming announcements but did not specify whether these would involve a new game or other projects, like the previous crossover with Magic: The Gathering. Ayoub expressed a desire for a Baldur's Gate 4 but acknowledged that such a project would require time.
"It's somewhat of an unenviable position," Ayoub noted. "We're not in a hurry. We're going to take a very measured approach... We've got a lot of plans, a lot of different ways to go about it. We're starting to think about, okay, yeah, we're ready to start dipping toes a little bit and talking about a few things. And I think, in really short order, like I said, again, not to over-tease that point, we're going to have some other things to talk about around that."
To celebrate the release of Patch 8, Larian will host a Twitch livestream featuring senior systems designer Ross Stephens, who will delve into the update's changes and additions.
